


Honor Among Leaves

by zenelly



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Ensemble Stars Secret Santa 2018, M/M, fall leaf viewing date, god i love actual real power ranger chiaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 16:11:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17144924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenelly/pseuds/zenelly
Summary: Kaoru and Chiaki go see the autumn leaves. Or try to, at least.(For the Ensemble Stars Secret Santa event on twitter!)





	Honor Among Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays, bingobears! I hope you like this! I really loved the idea of a chiakao leaf viewing date because hoo boy, that's adorable.

Laughing crowds surround Kaoru as he stares up into the endlessly blue sky. Here and there are couples walking together, fingers entwined and heads leaned close together, small dainty girls tucked against their lucky boyfriend’s sides.

If he had his way about it, that could’ve been him. Instead…

“Ah, Hakaze! I hope you weren’t waiting too long for me!”

Instead, Kaoru despairs as he turns from his crowd watching, he’s playing babysitter for the world’s most boisterous five year old.

Chiaki bounds up with barely contained enthusiasm, cheeks flushed, hair flying around his face beneath the brim of his off-center hat. He grins like he’s never known how to do anything else. Kaoru can feel the heat coming from him like a physical force, almost enticing enough to make him want to shuffle closer. Instead, he holds himself carefully still. “You’re alright, Moricchi. I got to look at all the beautiful girls before you showed up and ruined my atmosphere.”

“Oho, of course! How could I even hope to compare to any of these lovely ladies?” Chiaki sketches a bow that must have come straight from one of his tokusatsu shows. “Please forgive this Morisawa Chiaki for interrupting.”

“Man.” Kaoru scratches the back of his neck, uncomfortably aware of how some people have slowed down to stare at Chiaki’s regrettably sincere apology. “You’re the one who invited me. Stand up already. You’re making a scene.”

“No, you’re-“ Chiaki pauses, then seems to actually view himself before laughing. Not sheepish in the slightest. Almost proud. He straightens with a laugh and reaches out, grasping Kaoru’s hand. “I suppose I am, aren’t I? Sorry, Hakaze. I guess I wasn’t expecting you to actually show up, so I’m super glad you’re here!”

“Well, whatever,” Kaoru mutters, tugging his fingers free, Chiaki’s body heat lingering wherever he touched. His skin tingles, a wash of phantom sensation, and Kaoru folds his arms just to banish it. “I didn’t have anything better to do today anyway.”

Chiaki looks up at him, a smile lurking in the corners of his mouth like he also remembers how he pressed Kaoru against the walls of 3-A’s classroom and asked him out yesterday, his lips hot on the curve of Kaoru’s neck. “This isn’t the sort of stuff we usually do together. Bu I thought I would enjoy seeing the leaves with you.” Reaching up, Chiaki pulls something from Kaoru’s hair, a vivid scarlet leaf that he twirls in his fingers. Kaoru touches his hair before he can stop himself. Chiaki smiles, wide-mouthed, charming. “All this red suits you, you know.”

“Coming from someone who enjoys marathoning tokusatsu shows as much as you, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Kaoru drawls.

Chiaki flings his arms wide, like he’s trying to encompass the whole world. “It is a compliment! Come on! Breathe the autumn air in, Hakaze, and let’s get started!”

Kaoru breathes deeply at Chiaki’s behest, tries not to let his gaze linger on the way Chiaki’s shirt stretches across his chest. “Alright,” he allows finally. “Let’s go.”

The trees are marvelous, if Kaoru’s being honest. Bright red leaves fall around them with every gust of wind, dancing in the wayward eddies along the street. They make a brilliant clatter, scuttling and scraping along the pavement and each other, racketing in the trees, and Kaoru admires them in all their noise and brazenness, the unashamed way they herald the season. He turns to Chiaki, to share this quiet observation and Chiaki is-

Gone, actually. Kaoru searches the crowd for a moment. He doesn’t have to look long, though, finding Chiaki crouched in front of a crying kid, hand on the little boy’s head as he speaks in a low, comforting voice. Not even five minutes before Ryusei Red is out helping kids in need, Kaoru thinks wryly. He tucks his hands into his jacket as he comes over.

“Hey now, young man, it’ll be okay! Take a deep breath. Ryusei Red is here to help! Do you have your card on you? What’s your name, hm?”

A constant, low stream of words. Kaoru can’t help but smile. It's charming, how good Chiaki is with kids, and even though it’s nothing Kaoru has ever thought of before, he can’t stop the thought of “Maybe later, he’ll end up a good dad too.” It’s a strange idea, stranger how much Kaoru wants to be there to see it.

The two of them get the kid returned to his parents in short order, the young couple worried and grateful to not need to be worried anymore as the mother clutches the boy in her arms.

(Remembering his mother this time only makes Kaoru smile.)

He nudges Chiaki with his elbow as they walk away, eyes up on the leaves again. “You’re pretty good with kids, huh? I almost couldn't understand what he was saying under all that crying.”

“Of course I am! After all,” Chiaki proclaims, thumping his chest. “I am a Hero of Justice and I understand the Truth Buried In People’s Secret Hearts.”

“It’s not normal to say things like that with a straight face, y’know.”

Chiaki laughs, bold and brash, and Kaoru can’t help but smile back at him. “There’s nothing wrong with being sincere, Kaoru.”

“Is that what you call being sincere?” But, he has to admit, of all the people he’s ever known, Chiaki is one of the only people who has always been honest with Kaoru. “Troublesome and loud,” Kaoru sighs, reaching out to thread his fingers between Chiaki’s. “I see I need to keep hold of you if I don’t want you running off to help more kids, or jumping in every leaf pile you see and scaring off all the girls.”

“Yeah. Hold onto me tight.” Chiaki squeezes his hand. “Don’t let me go.”

“I don’t think you’d leave if I tried.”

“Maybe not. Hey, Kaoru, can I kiss you?”

Kaoru checks around them, nervous, something hotter than nerves gripping him by the base of the spine. “What, here?”

And Chiaki uses his grip on Kaoru’s hand to pull him over, to press him into the safe shadow of a tree trunk, fitting his thigh between Kaoru’s legs. His whole body is hot, a sharp contrast to how brisk the fall air has been. “No, over here. Kaoru, can I kiss you?”

“Y-Yeah, go ahead,” Kaoru has enough time to mumble before Chiaki’s lips cover his, as demanding and forward as he always is but still somehow gentle. Chiaki kisses with confidence, taking his time coaxing Kaoru, dragging his teeth across the swell of his lower lip and swallowing the gasp Kaoru can’t keep back.

Chiaki pulls away, surveying his face before smiling. “See, I told you that red suits you, Kaoru.”

“Aah, shut up, Chiaki.” And Kaoru reels him back in for another kiss, opening wonderingly beneath his warm lips and warm hands and warm heart like a flower opening its face to the sun.


End file.
